Unfortunately, I didn't get the best night of sleep in the first night at my new dorm. I was continually woken up by loud limbo music throughout the night and had nightmares of having to continually limbo with that humungous crowd watching me.
I woke up somewhat late the next morning, since classes started the next day and I had nothing better to do. Walking into the kitchen, I discovered that Toris was already up and moving, for he had a fresh pot of coffee brewing, and bless his soul, it looked like he had saved enough for me. Exchanging good mornings, our talk soon changed to the topic of last night.
"We missed you last night. Apparently the owner is from Cuba and can make a pretty delicious vanilla ice cream," Toris murmured while sipping his coffee.
"I would've liked to come, things just got a bit overwhelming here," I replied while taking a sip of my own. "There was a huge limbo fest going on when I came back, and I was forced to myself when trying to get through the hall!"
He raised his eyebrows. "Oh, so are you the 'New Guy' that Mathias and everyone were referring to last night?"
I tilted my head at him, a bit confused. "Who's Mathias?"
Toris looked up at me. "He was the organizer of the limbo tournament yesterday night. I ran into him when coming back to the dorms."
Connecting the name to the face, I nodded. "Oh, so he's the wild-haired donut man."
Toris looked at me, puzzled. "Who?"
I waved at him, "Oh, no one. That was just how I remembered him until now." I added two sugar cubes to my coffee. "Speaking of names, did you happen to get the name of the boy in the pink skirt yesterday?" I asked him, smirking into my drink.
"I…I happened to. Yes. I did. His name is Feliks and he's from California. And…why does that matter?" Toris stammered.
"No reason." I replied, hiding my smile by taking a sip of the now too-sweetened coffee.
Clearing his throat, Toris got up and put his mug in the sink. "I might go out and tour the campus a bit more. Would you like to come?" he asked as he washed his cup.
Nodding my head, I was prepared to give a, "Certainly!" when I remembered the real reason I didn't want to leave my dorm last night. "No! I can't leave for at least another day or so!"
Toris turned to me. "Why not? I've already checked the hall; the next limbo contest isn't scheduled till Thursday, and since its Sunday, that's in four days."
I waved my hands at him while rambling. "No! You see, there's this big, scary guy who lives in the dorm right next to us! I accidentally rammed into him on the way to the room last night and I swear he looked like he was going to kill me! I can't go out there now!"
My roommate chuckled and tugged on his shoes. "No one is going to kill you Tino."
"You're right. He's probably waiting right outside my door to kidnap me and then-"
"Tino!" Toris suddenly was right in front of me and placed both hands on my shoulders. "You'll be fine! You apologized, right? You can do nothing else." Deciding that the conversation was over, he pulled on his other shoe and stood next to the door. "Are you coming?"
To be honest, I forgot about my scary neighbor almost immediately. Toris and I spent the rest of the day touring the very large campus and discovered that it had a humungous theater (the University was known for their plays), a cafeteria with so many different types of food it made my head spin, and numerous clubs and classes that I didn't even know existed. I had never heard of the 'How to become Awesome like Me' class, the 'Panda' club, or the 'Delicious Tomato' club, which only had two members.
After seeing a particularly quirky club I burst out laughing. "Hey Toris! You should join the '4 Months 2 Fab' Club!"
Toris turned to me with a strange and somewhat hurt look. "But…why? I believe this is the last day to sign up for other school activities, but what makes you think that I would ever want to join that?"
Oh, why had I said that in the first place?! Had I lost my only friend, my roommate over one stupid comment?! Desperate to win back his friendship, I uttered the words that changed my life.
"Because, I'll join whatever class you pick for me!"
A strange glint appeared in his eye at that moment. "Any class?"
I nodded wildly. "Any class!"
Seeming to be deep in thought, he responded, "Let's raise the stakes. If one of us drops out of our new class, they have to buy the other lunch for a whole week."
I pondered this for a moment. Seeing it as a fair bet, I agreed.
Nodding with the scary glint still in his eye, he turned back to the list of classes and clubs. He eyed it over for another minute or so, and finally turned to me. "I've got it." He placed his finger on the accursed paper. "Right here."
I tiptoed beside him and peeped up at the list. When my eyes finally landed on the class he had picked for me, my jaw dropped.
"Woodshop class?! Is there a particular reason why you chose that?" I asked him, completely perplexed.
He looked back at the paper with a faint smile on his face. "Oh, I don't know. I've just got a feeling that you will really despise it."
Toris had the face of an angel but the mind of the devil.
We signed up for our new after school activities, and soon after, we got some amazing Italian food from a restaurant located on the campus. The man who served our food was actually a student studying at the University, who apparently was very energetic, and was very enthusiastic about pasta. Just as we were about to retire to our dorm, we were stopped by a couple students.
"Hey, New Guy!"
Internally groaning, I turned around to find the limbo coordinator, and two other male students that I had never seen before. Both boys looked practically identical, except for the fact that one was a bit taller than the other, and had a peculiar cross hair pin clipped in his blonde hair.
Putting on a smile, I answered, "Um, hello! Feel free to call me Tino; 'New Guy' is a bit long."
He nodded. "Fair enough. Well Tino, I'm Mathias Køhler." Putting an arm around each of the boys standing next to him, he quirking his head in the shorter student's direction, and announced, "This here is Emil Stielsson," and pointing in the opposite way he continued, "And this is my bff, Lukas Bondevik!"
Emil looked like he could melt in the ground from embarrassment and Lukas looked like he couldn't care if the earth exploded in that very moment.
"While they both have different last names, they're half brothers! Emil took his mother's maiden name instead. Isn't that so cool?!" Mathias rattled on.
After I had introduced Toris to the two brothers, we continued for a while (which basically was all about Mathias telling us about his upcoming 'Bobbing for Apples' plans), until Lukas physically began dragging him away by his ear. Emil was half a step behind their heels, and they left the cafeteria without another word.
"Oh…they're a bunch of fun, aren't they?" Toris joked as he threw away his trash.
We made our way up the flight of stairs to where our dorm was located, and were in the process of rounding the corner in the hall until I quite literally bumped into someone.
I didn't even have to think who it was.
Toris took one look at the probably now pissed-off neighbor and sprinted down the hall. On the floor I looked up at the face I feared, and was rewarded with those hypnotizing sea-green eyes.
"I-I really have to stop doing that! Are you okay, sir? I'm so sorry!" I shakily stood up and offered him a hand.
Picking up his glasses, he took my hand, and standing at his full height, he wasn't as tall as I had depicted him to be.
"Are ya alright?"
Amazed that he actually wasn't yelling at me (and that he actually said something) I answered, "N-No! I'm perfectly fine!"
Que the awkward silence.
Not knowing much else to do, I said, "I think we're roommates! I-I live in dorm 143!"
He nodded. "142."
The awkward silence returned, and wanting to be on good terms with him, I stuck out my hand. "My name's Tino Väinämöinen. What's yours?"
It was at that moment that I saw his face soften, just a little bit. Not only his eyes, but his whole face looked kinder, and I realized that he actually looked quite handsome when he did that.
Woah. Where did that come from?
Lost in thought, I barely heard him utter his name. "Berwald Oxenstierna."
I was about to respond when a door in the hall opened, revealing a male student with impressive eyebrows and the same boisterous boy (still in the same bomber jacket) from the limbo tournament last evening.
"This is our fifth stop to McDonald's today! How many hamburgers can you eat?! " the student with the enormous eyebrows ranted.
"McDonalds isn't just a restaurant, Artie. McDonalds is a way of life!" the other responded passionately.
"You better pay me back for all the crap from there that I've bought you. Your stomach is a bottomless pit." Their arguing continued until they left the hall, and they still could be heard outside.
Snapping back to my thoughts, I stated, "Well, I should be heading back to my dorm. My roommate is probably expecting me."
Berwald nodded, and with a "G'bye," he passed by me and went in the same direction as the two students had not ten seconds later. I walked calmly to my room and once I opened the door, I was attacked my Toris.
"O viešpatie! How are you still alive?! Is that the roommate you were scared was going to kill you? Cause I can definitely see why now!"
Still a bit in shock myself, I said, "Yeah, that's Berwald Oxenstierna, our next door neighbor. And I really need to stop physically running into him."
A/N
Third installment is up! Let me know what you think, and, as always, thank you so much for reading!
Continued in the next chapter...
